Breathe

Deep inhale. Slowly exhale. Feel the calm. Finally.

After 5 days of intense, long work days I was finally able to finish our special publication for the annual basketball tournament that we host about every 8 years. The students had worked on the design and, once we had the team photos and information from the other 7 schools, had been busy cropping and typing and working on the layouts. Unfortunately, with the many interruptions in recent weeks (not to mention schools that just couldn't seem to get all the correct information to us) they just couldn't meet the printer's deadline - which was Monday (01/14/2008).

Yesterday, I just finished in time to drive the CD to the printer. It was done. (Well, almost. After I dropped it off I realized I hadn't changed some specs on the cover artwork. I'll take 2 minutes and do that first thing this morning, burn a CD and run it to the printer during my prep period.) Now, I can start teaching again and get back to a more normal routine with that huge project off my shoulders. I have to say it was worth the trouble, though. I think this will be the best tournament program ever. Our design rocks!

So, how did I celebrate and reward myself? I took my older dog, Buddy, to PetsMart for his grooming appointment! Then I sat in my car, heater running, trying to decide where to eat dinner and what to do while I waited. I wanted someplace warm as the heater wasn't really working in my classroom and I was still chilled. I finally decided to go to Borders first to pick up a book or magazine to read while dining alone.

After looking around a while and realizing Borders was cold (my nose is the first thing to complain), I decided on a book: Journal Revolution by Linda Woods and karen Dinino. (Rise Up and Create is their motto.) In thumbing through, it looks chock full of various techniques that I can apply to collage, postcards, quilts and whatever art form I am doing in addition to making a fabulous journal (something I've wanted to work on). I used my $5 rewards money (okay, you probably know that I had to SPEND enough money at Borders to get the rewards back!), so didn't feel too bad about indulging myself.

Then I went to Marie Calendars, got a nice booth and had a bowl of split pea soup with their famous corn bread and honey butter. I read the book and ate my soup. Ahh. My cell phone was home charging, so no temptation to call my daughter and check in. I decided to nix the grocery shopping - we could survive another day and that eliminated another activity from my evening.

I finally went back to PetsMart, picked up a few pet supplies (including Christmas clearance toys for my dogs) and got Buddy. I felt so good! I had had about 2 hours of "me" time after the unrelenting stress of recent days and I was happy. The rest of the week will still be busy, but this huge "breath" was what I needed. So glad God gives us the ability to heal our tired souls, if we just take the time..